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This might sound like a conspiracy theory but hear me out first. Everything you know about Wi-Fi may be wrong.
When you and I think of Wi-Fi, we think of a harmless invisible signal that helps us watch YouTube videos, text our friends and loved ones, play games online, search the internet for answers, download stuff or cyber bully someone for fun.
But what if I told you that the real purpose of Wi-Fi might not be to give to you but to take from you?
Now let me attempt to make sense of my theory.
Every device you connect to a Wi-Fi signal anywhere you are in the world becomes a two way portal. It's not just sending data to your device, like you streaming a video or trying to even load the website you're reading this article from. It's also receiving data from your device, be it a phone, laptop, tablet or computer.
Infact if you check an app's information in settings of your phone, you'd notice permissions and access allowed. Some of the data your phone sends back to the Wi-Fi signal includes usage patterns, location data, device type, app activity, background sensor data like motion, sound, or even ambient light.
You remember cookies? Not what your grandma makes but what Chrome and other web browsers make. That's also being sent.
We connect to Wi-Fi without thinking about what our devices are giving away in the background.
We accept user agreements without reading them. We grant apps permission to access our microphone, camera, location, even when we’re not using them. Combine that with the constant connection Wi-Fi provides and what do you have? A silent siphon, siphoning all your information.
I now look at a Wi-Fi connection not as a data stream but a data vacuum.
The average smartphone or smart device has more sensors than most people realize. We've got accelerometers, gyroscopes, light sensors, microphones, all of these sensors are quietly collecting and transmitting information.
Who's information? Yours.
To whom? Well, that’s the million dollar question. The answer could be Big Tech, governments, advertisers or something else entirely but whatever the answer may be, it’s certainly not a one way street. Wi-Fi is not just broadcasting, it’s constantly listening.
Ask yourself, why do you think the companies responsible for building the Wi-Fi systems have tried to make it free for a lot of areas. Infact, it's not possible to make it free unless someone is paying for it or it's making money in a different way which is not too obvious.
Every mall, café, airport and hotel proudly offers free Wi-Fi but if we say data is the new oil, why would they just give it away? The answer is, they don't. You have become the product. When you connect, your device shares far more than you think.
Some Wi-Fi providers even use software that tracks your movements within their building, mapping where you go, what you look at and how long you stay there. This is so messed up on a number of different levels.
There’s a theory that public Wi-Fi hotspots, especially those positioned in major cities are not just data collection points, but part of a larger grid designed to map and monitor human behavior in real time. The more people in those cities connect to that particular Wi-Fi signal or station, the more they learn.
If they learn about us, it's no big deal right? Yes until you consider the fact that the more they learn, the more predictable we become to them. The easiest thing to take advantage of is something that is predictable. If stock markets and crypto trading was easily predictable, how much money would you have right now? Don't answer it's rhetorical.
If you start thinking of it this way, you'd realize that Wi-Fi is less of a signal and more of a net. When you connect to a Wi-Fi signal again, ask yourself this question, Who's gaining more access, you or them?